Seattle’s South Lake Union area is home to a notable retailer, but not the big online one you’re thinking about. This is a store called Shine, and it’s part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
The interior of the store looks like a regular boutique: rich, dark brown wood paneling, with focused lights that make sweaters and scarves and books pop off the shelves. But the store specializes in items that are “oncology specific.”
Shopping here involves a lot of sensitive conversations: What kinds of clothes can I wear now that my body is a different shape? Do you have a cream to treat my radiation burns or the dry skin I have from chemotherapy? My sex life is suffering as a result of my treatment. Can you help me with that?
The staff tries to provide a positive environment, but they don’t force it, says co-manager Eileen Hood. Sometimes people come in and they’re pretty curt with the staff.
“We have no idea what they heard from the doctor 25 minutes ago,” Hood said. “It’s calm, relaxing. It doesn’t feel clinical in here.”
Another co-manager, Carrie Jacobsen says working there puts life into perspective.
“We talk about it every day,” she said. “Lots of daily troubles seem less significant.”
They know they’re not curing cancer – that takes doctors and nurses and therapists and more. But in the pile of problems that cancer patients and their loved ones have to manage, the staff at Shine hopes they’re able to just take one or two off the table.
